(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for backing up a profile of an authentication module.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A universal integrated circuit card (UICC) is a smart card that is inserted into a terminal and is a module for user authentication. The UICC can store a profile including a user's personal information and provider information of a mobile communication provider in which a user subscribes. For example, the UICC may include international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) for identifying a user. The UICC is called a subscriber identity module (SIM) card in a global system for mobile (GSM) method and a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) card in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) method.
A terminal performs user authentication using information that is stored at the UICC. Therefore, the user can conveniently communicate, authenticate, and pay using the UICC. Further, when the user replaces a terminal, the user inserts an UICC of an existing terminal into a new terminal. Therefore, by replacing a detachable UICC, the user can transfer the user's personal information and mobile communication provider information to a new apparatus.
Nowadays, a communication terminal such as machine to machine (M2M) is produced in a small size. At such a terminal, instead of a detachable UICC, an embedded UICC (eUICC) is mounted. The eUICC cannot be physically removed from a terminal or inserted into a terminal, unlike the detachable UICC. Therefore, it is difficult to transfer a profile that is stored at the UICC to another embedded UICC or another repository.